Liverpool Midfield Ace Reveals How Jurgen Klopp Inspired Man City UCL Quarter-Final Victory

Georginio Wijnaldum has revealed how Jurgen Klopp's rousing half-time speech against Manchester City inspired Liverpool to progress past the Champions League quarter-final stage.

The Reds had taken a 3-0 lead to the Etihad Stadium during their last eight tie with the Premier League champions in March, but found themselves 1-0 down in the return leg and in danger of being overwhelmed by Pep Guardiola's side.

Thankfully for Liverpool fans, their team turned around their fortunes in the second half and, in quotes published by the Daily Mail, midfielder Wijnaldum revealed how it was Klopp's half-time team talk that helped them overcome City to win 2-1 on the night and 5-1 on aggregate.

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He said: "I think we were too impressed by the way they were playing. We (were) lucky the game has two halves to play, as we could recover after the first half and play a good second half.

"We were surprised, I think, with their unbelievable attacking speed. We weren’t really ready for what was to come. I think there was a warning for us for the way we played against City.

"The manager said we didn’t need to be scared, we just have to play our own game. If we played football we would create chances, as there was so much space in behind.

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"He said to play a little bit more instead of playing the direct ball. I think he showed us on the screen, (because) we were dropping too deep. I think maybe because we were impressed and maybe a little bit too scared."

Liverpool thumped Roma 5-2 in the first leg of their semi final clash at Anfield last Tuesday and have now headed to Rome for the second leg of the last four tie. An away goal would go down a treat with Klopp, his players and the travelling contingent of fans are surely set up a final against holders Real Madrid later in May.